Why Excellent Customer Support on Social Media Drives up SEO Rankings

Why Excellent Customer Support on Social Media Drives up SEO Rankings

It is inevitable for businesses to be present on social media; from Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter, to YouTube.

With price competition getting more expensive for companies across all industries, businesses are now turning to providing excellent customer service to differentiate them from the rest.

Here are some surprising stats for you to consider:

> 85% of companies will have to compete on customer experience

> Nearly half of U.S. consumers use social media to ask questions, report satisfaction, or to complain.

> 1/3 of social media users prefer “social care.”

> 53% of customers who pose a question on Twitter expect a response within an hour, and 72% expect the resolution in an hour.

> 67% of clients has contacted a company via social media.

> There’s a 15% churn rate for businesses who ignore support requests.

> Customer spends 20-40% more when companies engage and respond on social media.

These stats drive the point that social media has indeed added a different dimension to traditional advertising (TV, radio, and print) in reaching out to countries with robust telecommunications infrastructure. With so many social media outlets—Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and YouTube—the question now is, how do you get by?

The key to being successful with social media is to be responsive, authentic, and genuinely thankful to people who take the time to read your posts (whether or not comments are positive or negative).

Here are some tips for you to keep the social media experience positive for your customers. As you will see, positive customer service experience will always translate to driving up SEO rankings:

Be present on relevant social media platforms

On your social media channels, set the tone that what sets you apart from other businesses is that, you are genuinely interested in your customers.

Your tone says a lot about how you feel, how you stand for your company, and how you deal with customers. The key? Be a real person customers can talk to— be their friend and ally. Make sure your responses are not only timely, but they should also be accurate, sensitive, brief, and friendly. Do not waste your time either: spend time with people who would like to engage with you, and be firm against online trolls and mean competitors.

Why this is relevant to your SEO:A friendly and responsive tone on social media drives up customers’ interest. They may check your website, your other social media channels, and may refer you to their family and friends. The good old word-of-mouth can help you, especially if you’re a starting business.

Make sense of social media data

Social media presence does not stop with on-site comments, likes and reshares: you also have to do your analytics using gleaning information from data collected on your social media channels. Usually, analytics is done after a week or a month’s worth of activity. As said by Dan Gingiss, former head of digital customer experience for Discover Card, “If someone is praising you publicly in social media for all of their friends, fans, and followers to see, there’s no bigger gift from a customer… To ignore that is frankly kind of rude.”

You may have to hire an SEO consultant as they have tools to analyze your social media data. Doing this yourself is also possible, but make sure you teach yourself well, so you don’t put to waste additional expenses incurred from social media analytical tools.

Why this is relevant to your SEO: You can use this social media data to check on the demographics of interested customers, what they like, what they don’t like, and on what time of the day they usually check your sites. This data can be very helpful when you want to improve on SEO strategies.

To thrive with excellent customer service in social media is to show to the world that you are part of a company that’s adaptable, successful, and dependable. This form of paying forward is not only perfect for your customers but also ideal for your business. Social media is now one of the most fundamental drivers to improving your SEO. When you think of social media, it’s hard not to think of SEO as well. But having a social media account does not stop there. You must take care of your customers, as much as they are willing to take care of your brand.